Best 2GB Kit for OC'ing

kissmyewok · 19 Jan 2006 at 08:49

I'm looking to get myself an Opteron for OC'ing and wondered which RAM I should to go for.

Should I be aiming for Corsair 2GB DDR XMS3500LL Pro with tight timings and lower frequency (can it be pushed that far?) or should I be looking at something like the Corsair 2GB DDR XMS4000PT with the looser timings and higher frequency?

Oh and the MB I'm looking at is the Asus SLI Deluxe.

Any advise would be appreciated, thanks!

mp260767 · 19 Jan 2006 at 11:21

hi,

i would look at either the gskill hz 4000 (high fsb) or Corsair 2GB DDR XMS3200C2PT TwinX (2x1GB) CAS2 (MY-079-CS) which have tighter timings.

Chaos_Darklight · 19 Jan 2006 at 13:33

I'd personal go for these Mushkin 1GB DDR XP3200 Extreme Performance Dual Channel Kit they come in 2 x 512 sets, so get two your looking at the same price there about's as the Corsair...I've read reviews and they are very good...

Dirk · 19 Jan 2006 at 13:43

I'm using the 3500ll's now and they are good up to 250Mhz @ 2.5,3,2,6. Not much head room beyond that though.

Getting the 4000pt's tomorrow so i'll let you know how they get on. From what i've seen they respond a bit better to vdimm increase and are getting 270-280Mhz on stock timings.

man_from_uncle · 19 Jan 2006 at 14:17

I've not been able to get my 3500LLs quite up to Dirks speed on those timings, but I have been able to get them stable at 260 using 2.5-3-3-6 with 3 volts.

As I have mentioned on another thread the best overclocking ram is not necessarily that which can get the highest FSB, but more the ram that can get the best combination of timings and speed. At the moment I think that the lower latency lower speed ram modules have better sweet spots than the high speed high latency modules. Things may change in the next 6 months but at the moment getting 230-260 with tight timings does seem to produce better results than 260-290 with really loose timings. The new mushkin Redliners may change that though and they seem to have more potential than any other PC4000 set so far.

kimandsally · 19 Jan 2006 at 19:53

The Mushkin and OCZ are the best quality but G Skill is catching up quickly, I have some HZ4000 sitting nicely @ 260 3-4-3-7 with only 2.55v great value and in all honesty unless your wanting to do benchmarking you wouldn't know the difference between this and Mushkin @ 260 3-3-2-8.

smids · 19 Jan 2006 at 19:57

kimandsally said:
The Mushkin and OCZ are the best quality but G Skill is catching up quickly, I have some HZ4000 sitting nicely @ 260 3-4-3-7 with only 2.55v great value and in all honesty unless your wanting to do benchmarking you wouldn't know the difference between this and Mushkin @ 260 3-3-2-8.

kimandsally - if you could, can you check the CPU-z SPD timings of your HZ. Does this RAM have an SPD for 200mhz and if so, what is it please?

Thanks.

kimandsally · 19 Jan 2006 at 20:06

smids said:
kimandsally - if you could, can you check the CPU-z SPD timings of your HZ. Does this RAM have an SPD for 200mhz and if so, what is it please?

Thanks.

Hi here goes, doesn't give a speed for 200MHz it shows module size 1024, maximum bandwidth PC4000 (250MHz) CAS 3.0 RAS# to CAS# 4 RAS# Precharge 4 T Ras# 8

Sorry can't do an image shack can't find my password and dinners done.

smids · 19 Jan 2006 at 20:10

kimandsally said:
Hi here goes, doesn't give a speed for 200MHz it shows module size 1024, maximum bandwidth PC4000 (250MHz) CAS 3.0 RAS# to CAS# 4 RAS# Precharge 4 T Ras# 8

Sorry can't do an image shack can't find my password and dinners done.

Cool, thanks very much!! Just wondering on how these things underclock. See I wanted something that could do tight timings low down (200mhz) and moderate at 250mhz. Might just get the ZX and not the HZ. I suppose they say A64's respond better to timings than FSB.

kimandsally · 19 Jan 2006 at 20:29

smids said:
Cool, thanks very much!! Just wondering on how these things underclock. See I wanted something that could do tight timings low down (200mhz) and moderate at 250mhz. Might just get the ZX and not the HZ. I suppose they say A64's respond better to timings than FSB.

I can try a quick test for you and see what I can get a 200MHz I doubt if it will go far but I'll give it a go will post back soon when I have some results

smids · 19 Jan 2006 at 20:44

kimandsally said:
I can try a quick test for you and see what I can get a 200MHz I doubt if it will go far but I'll give it a go will post back soon when I have some results

You don't have to, I don't want you damaging anything!!

If indeed you do, thank you ever so much!

I really appreciate it. Having a very difficult time choosing the HZ or the ZX

- especially as I'm coming from 1GB of the best RAM out there, 1GB BH5 GeIL One doing 2-2-2-5 1T 250mhz without a sweat.

kimandsally · 19 Jan 2006 at 21:07

smids said:
You don't have to, I don't want you damaging anything!!

If indeed you do, thank you ever so much! I really appreciate it. Having a very difficult time choosing the HZ or the ZX - especially as I'm coming from 1GB of the best RAM out there, 1GB BH5 GeIL One doing 2-2-2-5 1T 250mhz without a sweat.

Here's the news.......

Runs Prime 13 mins @ 200MHz 2.5-3-3-6 but when I try to further tighten it up it's a reset of the CMOS the quick boot won't do it so I'd say best case scenario is 2.5-3-3-6 so the ZX is miles better on that score.

What I can do is to run some tests to see what I can get at 2500MHz as I have a 4400 X2 then you should have a good clue as to what this ram can do.

Hopefully it might also help other people to see what they are likely to get, if you want me to go ahead let me know what tests you want running and I'll have a go.

smids · 19 Jan 2006 at 21:11

kimandsally said:
Here's the news.......

Runs Prime 13 mins @ 200MHz 2.5-3-3-6 but when I try to further tighten it up it's a reset of the CMOS the quick boot won't do it so I'd say best case scenario is 2.5-3-3-6 so the ZX is miles better on that score.

What I can do is to run some tests to see what I can get at 2500MHz as I have a 4400 X2 then you should have a good clue as to what this ram can do.

Hopefully it might also help other people to see what they are likely to get, if you want me to go ahead let me know what tests you want running and I'll have a go.

I really don't want to trouble you here!!! You've done more than enough for me already! I'm thinking ZX because it will do 2-2-2-5 1T @ 200mhz (with a push) and lots have done 250mhz @ about 3-3-3-5 which isn't bad! Thanks for trying it out for me though.

kimandsally · 19 Jan 2006 at 21:18

smids said:
I really don't want to trouble you here!!! You've done more than enough for me already! I'm thinking ZX because it will do 2-2-2-5 1T @ 200mhz (with a push) and lots have done 250mhz @ about 3-3-3-5 which isn't bad! Thanks for trying it out for me though.

No probs mate I think the ZX does look a better option especially because our 4400's will run at 1/1 so saves messing with dividers as well. Just hope you get a nice set of ZX but at the moment all G Skill news is good and you will do better than most with the experience you have, I'll be interested to see what you manage.

Here's a link that's very handy.......

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=86814

smids · 19 Jan 2006 at 22:44

kimandsally said:
No probs mate I think the ZX does look a better option especially because our 4400's will run at 1/1 so saves messing with dividers as well. Just hope you get a nice set of ZX but at the moment all G Skill news is good and you will do better than most with the experience you have, I'll be interested to see what you manage.

Here's a link that's very handy.......

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=86814

There's a whole 23 page thread on the ZX over there. GS Tech (a G.Skill Tech) said that most ZX do about 260 +-5mhz. That'll do for me. In all fairness, I might just run 200mhz @ 2-2-2-5 1T on a divider from 250. Seems like a good bet as bandwidth makes little difference on A64's - this I know from my dual BH5/TCCD days. TCCD was good, but the tight timings were so much better. 215mhz was about the point he needed to drop CAS2 - that's more than enough for me.

Scoobie Dave · 19 Jan 2006 at 23:06

Interesting thread. My 2nd set of Ballistix Tracer seems to be dying slowly and Crucial dont sell them any more so im getting a refund which gives me £260 back. So im in need of another 2gig set really soon.

I have been thinking about getting some GSkill either the HZ or ZX. So you guys are saying that the ZX would be the better option of the two then?

smids · 20 Jan 2006 at 00:04

Scoobie Dave said:
Interesting thread. My 2nd set of Ballistix Tracer seems to be dying slowly and Crucial dont sell them any more so im getting a refund which gives me £260 back. So im in need of another 2gig set really soon.

I have been thinking about getting some GSkill either the HZ or ZX. So you guys are saying that the ZX would be the better option of the two then?

I personally think so for A64's. Remember Angry's post @ DFIstreet with FSB vs timings. Timings won each time virtually. Bandwidth doesn't mean much to an A64, but it does for intel. If you have £260 though, you can get the Uber Mushkins...

Scoobie Dave · 20 Jan 2006 at 00:15

smids said:
I personally think so for A64's. Remember Angry's post @ DFIstreet with FSB vs timings. Timings won each time virtually. Bandwidth doesn't mean much to an A64, but it does for intel. If you have £260 though, you can get the Uber Mushkins...

Well I dont really want to spend out loads of money, even though im getting £260 back, I would rather put a bit towards a TFT screen

I would like to know before ordering how well the current batch of G.Skill 2GB DDR ZX is performing as I was reading up on the Xtreme Systems Forums on the ZX thread (with about 23 pages) and they were saying that the latest batch was not overclocking that well?
From what I can tell though that stock is based in America (I think) and what Overclockers have could be different perhaps?
It would be nice if it could hit 250HTT even though I agree that tight timings and low HTT is better.

smids · 20 Jan 2006 at 00:28

Scoobie Dave said:
Well I dont really want to spend out loads of money, even though im getting £260 back, I would rather put a bit towards a TFT screen
I would like to know before ordering how well the current batch of G.Skill 2GB DDR ZX is performing as I was reading up on the Xtreme Systems Forums on the ZX thread (with about 23 pages) and they were saying that the latest batch was not overclocking that well?
From what I can tell though that stock is based in America (I think) and what Overclockers have could be different perhaps?
It would be nice if it could hit 250HTT even though I agree that tight timings and low HTT is better.

Yeah, I've been thinking about replacing this 15" TFT now

. More money!

Anyway, yeah, the American stuff is likely to be slightly different etc. Mine are coming tomorrow so I will always let you know

.

matt100 · 20 Jan 2006 at 02:20

woh there smidsy!

I had 2gb of the zx (still have incedentally) and it wouldn't go past 245 with any timings let alone the tighter ones (I think I gave up at about 3-4-4-8 or similar and vs up to 2.95) I ended up buying the hz because it came back into stock and they're sitting happy at stock timings and volts at 261 (3-4-3-7 I believe).

The 2.5 CAS time above I think is misleading anyway and the on board mem controller can't do halves so despite what it says in the bios it will actually be running at CAS 3.

Finally.. I thought the debate had landed on A64s liking bus speed over timings? I was under the impression timings were a socket A/maybe 754 issue? But not with the on board controller??